Part 1
Produced by ellinora, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Transcriber’s Notes:
Captions marked with the symbols “++” were created by the Transcriber.
Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text that was bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).
THE JOLLY BOOK OF BOXCRAFT
THE JOLLY BOOK OF BOXCRAFT
BY PATTEN BEARD
With Sixty-eight Photographic Illustrations By G. S. North from Models Made and Arranged by the Author and with Twenty-three Diagrams by E. D. Pattee
[++ Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]
NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
All rights reserved
[++ Illustration: FAS Co September, 1914]
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ALL LITTLE CHILDREN AND TO “NIMBLEFINGERS,” “HAPPY THOUGHT” AND “PLAY”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
“The Jolly Book of Boxcraft” has been enlarged and rewritten from work started in May, 1909. This work was purchased by _St. Nicholas_, _Little Folks_, _Good Housekeeping_, _The Congregationalist and Christian World_, _The Designer_, _Holland’s Magazine_, _The Housekeeper_, _The Ladies’ Home Journal_, _The New York Herald_, and _The New York Tribune_. Thanks are due to them for the courtesy of using material which was included in their articles.
The author feels that it is only right to acknowledge her indebtedness to the children themselves who have lent their toys and helped in many little ways of their own toward the making of this book. Special thanks are due to Elizabeth Hendricks, Raymon Guthrie, Henry Jarrett, Stanley Hoyt, and Wesley Meehan, playfellows.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION (VERSE) XV
BOXCRAFT 1
THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE OF BOXVILLE 9
THE BOXVILLE STORE 16
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL OF BOXVILLE 19
THE LITTLE CHURCH OF BOXVILLE 27
THE BOXVILLE RAILWAY STATION 34
B. R. R. FREIGHT STATION AND SHOE-BOX 40 TUNNEL
HOTEL BANDBOX AND HOW TO FURNISH IT 43
THE SHOE-BOX APARTMENT HOUSE 50
A BOXVILLE RESIDENCE 53
THE BOXVILLE GARAGE OR STABLE 58
MAKING A BOXVILLE GARDEN 60
BOXVILLE BOAT-HOUSE OR YACHT CLUB 65
THE HOUSEBOAT “BOX CRAFT” 68
CAMP BOX ON MIRROR LAKE 70
THE GIPSY CART OF BOXVILLE HIGHWAY 73
THE SHEPHERD’S HUT AND THE SHEEPFOLD 77
BUILDING A BOX BRIDGE 81
BUILDING A TOY WINDMILL 83
BOXVILLE BARN AND FARMYARD 86
BOX BROTHERS’ ANIMAL SHOW 89
CIRCUS TENT AND CIRCUS GROUNDS 92
BOXTOWN ZOO GARDEN 96
BOXTOWN HOSE HOUSE 98
HOW TO MAKE A WIGWAM 100
FORT BOX 102
HOW TO BUILD A TOY CASTLE AND A 105 FAIRYLAND HOUSE
BOXES USED AS BLOCKS 110
MAKING A NOAH’S ARK FOR CRACKER ANIMALS 114
BOX SAVINGS-BANK FOR PENNIES 117
HOW TO MAKE A TOY WAGON AND SLED OR 119 SLEIGH
THE CHINA DOLL’S CRIB, GO-CART, AND MAY 122 BASKET
THE TOY DOG KENNEL FOR A TOY DOG 127
HOW TO MAKE A TEDDY BEAR’S WHEELBARROW 129
OFFICE FURNITURE FOR LITTLE DOLLS 131
HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HAMMOCK 134
HOW TO MAKE A THEATER OR PUNCH SHOW 136
HOW TO MAKE A TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND 140
MAKING A BOXCRAFT AUTOMOBILE 143
HOW TO FURNISH A DOLL-HOUSE 147
HOW TO MAKE THE BOXCRAFT GAME, 154 “RINGFLING”
THE GAME OF “SHOOT THE CHUTES” 157
THE BOXCRAFT GAME “ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU” 159
THE FUNNY GAME OF “MISTER BOX” 161
HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC BOX 163
NOTE
In view of the large number of illustrations in this volume and of the necessity for grouping them, it is necessary for an occasional illustration to appear at the end of its chapter, or at the end of the preceding chapter. It is desirable therefore that the list of illustrations be consulted frequently.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
BOXVILLE, A TOY TOWN MADE WITH SHOE-BOXES Frontispiece
BOXVILLE COTTAGE (Outside View)—BOXVILLE COTTAGE 4 (Inside View)
BOXCRAFT MATERIALS—AN UNFINISHED BOXCRAFT TOY 5
THE VILLAGE STORE (Outside View)—THE VILLAGE STORE 18 (Inside View)
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL (Outside View)—THE DISTRICT 19 SCHOOL (Inside View)
BOXVILLE CHURCH (Outside View)—BOXVILLE CHURCH 32 (Inside View)
BOXVILLE RAILWAY STATION (Outside View)—BOXVILLE 33 RAILWAY STATION (Inside View)
B.R.R. FREIGHT STATION—SHOE-BOX TUNNEL 42
BANDBOX HOTEL (Outside View)—BANDBOX HOTEL (Inside 43 View)
BOXVILLE APARTMENT HOUSE—BOX FURNITURE FOR THE 52 APARTMENT HOUSE
A BOXVILLE RESIDENCE:—THE GARAGE FOR BOXVILLE 53 RESIDENCE
THE GREENHOUSE FOR BOXVILLE GARDEN—THE PERGOLA FOR 64 THE GARDEN
THE BOAT-HOUSE OR YACHT CLUB—THE HOUSEBOAT, 65 “BOXCRAFT”
CAMP BOX ON MIRROR LAKE—THE BOXVILLE GIPSY CART 70
SHEPHERD’S HUT AND SHEEPFOLD—THE BOX BRIDGE 78
THE TOY WINDMILL—BOXVILLE BARN AND FARMYARD 84
THE BOXCRAFT ANIMAL SHOW 90
BOX BROTHERS’ CIRCUS TENT—CIRCUS CAGES AND BOOTH 91
BOXTOWN ZOO—BOXTOWN’S HOSE HOUSE 96
INDIAN WIGWAM—FORT BOX 100
THE FAIRYLAND CASTLE—THE FAIRY HOUSE 108
BOX BUILDING WITH BOX BLOCKS—A BOX ANIMAL AND BOX 109 MAN
A TOY TRAIN BUILT OF BOXES—BOXES AS STANDARDS FOR 112 CUT-OUTS
A NOAH’S ARK WITH CRACKER ANIMALS—A PENNY 113 SAVINGS-BANK
WAGON AND SLED—SLEIGH 120
CRIB, GO-CART, MAY BASKET—EXPRESS WAGON AND DOLL’S 121 SLED
TOY DOG KENNEL—TOY WHEELBARROW 128
OFFICE FURNITURE FOR DOLLS—A DOLL’S COUCH HAMMOCK 132
DOLLS’ THEATER—THE TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND 138
BOXCRAFT TOY AUTOMOBILE (With Top)—BOXCRAFT 144 AUTOMOBILE Without Top)
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: BEDROOM—TABLES AND CHAIRS 148
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: MANTEL AND SETTLE—PIANO AND 149 CLOCK
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: DINING-ROOM—KITCHEN 152
THE GAME, “RINGFLING”—THE GAME, “SHOOT THE CHUTES” 154
THE GAME, “MR. BOX”—THE GAME, 160 “ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU”
DIAGRAMS
DIAGRAM PAGE
ONE How to Make Windows 166
TWO How to Make Doors 167
THREE, A How to Make Side Walls Supports for a Sloping 168 Roof. How to Cut a Hole for a Chimney
THREE, B How to Make a Gable Roof out of Two Box Covers 169
THREE, C, CC How to Make a Gable Roof out of Cardboard and a 170 Building to Fit
THREE, D, E How to Make an Indian Wigwam or a Round-Pointed 171 Roof. How to Make a Tent-shaped Roof
THREE, F, G How to Make Ramparts for a Castle or Fort. How 172 to Make a Roof for a Porch
FOUR How to Make a Bridge and a R. R. Tunnel 173
FIVE How to Make a Pattern for a Windmill Sail 174
SIX, A, AA How to Make a Bench Form and a Bed 175
SIX, B How to Make a High-backed Bench 176
SIX, C How to Make a Chair 177
SIX, D, DD How to Make Tables 178
SIX, E, F How to Make a School Desk and a Piano 179
SIX, G How to Make a Fireplace and a Mantel 180
SEVEN How to Make a Pergola 181
EIGHT How to Make a Zoo or Circus Cage 182
NINE How to Make a Dolls’ Theater or Punch Show 183
TEN How to Make a Sleigh or a Sled 184
ELEVEN How to Make the Boxcraft Game, “Ringfling” 185
TWELVE How to Make the Boxcraft Game, 186 “One-Two-I-Catch-You”
THIRTEEN How to Make a Magic Box 187
[++ Illustration: To Boxville]
INTRODUCTION
THE BOXCRAFT ROAD
Near Jollyplay in Boxland, on Boxcraft Road to Fun, There lies a children’s village—a very happy one. Its buildings are all boxes—the hotel and the store, The school-house and the station, and many others more! The name of it is Boxville. Its villagers are toys, And those who build in Boxville are merry girls and boys. You, too, may go to Boxland to make a house for play— Look! Here, you’ll see the guide-post! Before you lies the way. Take cardboard boxes with you—maybe, some paste or glue, A pencil, and a paint-box,—and take your scissors too. I’ll tell you all about it. We’ll start—the turning’s here— It was a fairy told me about this village, dear!
THE JOLLY BOOK OF BOXCRAFT
The Jolly Book of Boxcraft
BOXCRAFT
=Material Required to Make Boxcraft=: cardboard boxes, paste, scissors, crayons or water-color paints; perhaps a ruler, and pencil will help.
Do you believe in fairies? I do. I know three of them, and they are quite as wonderful as Cinderella’s fairy godmother. She could make a coach and pair out of nothing at all but a pumpkin and some mice, but the fairies that I know can do even better than that! They can make a whole toy shop full of toys from nothing at all but some cardboard boxes.
The fairies that I know are called Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play. They have so much magic that they can transform even dull days and make them jolly ones. All three of them came to see me one very rainy day, and each of them sat upon a cardboard box while they all told me in chorus about the fairy art of boxcraft.
“Have you ever noticed how much an ordinary shoe-box looks like a little building with a flat roof?” Happy Thought inquired.
“All you have to do to make it a house,” Nimblefingers put in, “is to cut doors and windows in its sides.”
“And then, when you have made the house, you have all kinds of fun with it,” laughed Play.
“Boxes will make chimneys for your house,” Happy Thought pursued. “Boxes will make furniture—beds, tables, chairs, mantels, pianos, benches—everything!”
“You need only to cut the box rims to make them,” Nimblefingers interrupted.
“And when they are made—oh, _think_ of the things you can use them for!” chuckled Play.
“A whole village can be made—cottages, school, store, church, railway station, bridges, tunnels—everything,” Happy Thought went on.
“And _all_ that you need to do it will be a pair of scissors, a pencil, some paints, and maybe some paste. I’ll show you how,” Nimblefingers volunteered.
“When the village is made, all your toys can play in it! Haven’t you some roly-poly tumble toys, and some penny dolls, and toy animals?” Play demanded. “I know you must have.”
“And the village is not _all_ that you can make from nothing at all but some cardboard boxes. You may make almost any kind of a toy: a theater for dolls, a merry-go-round, an Indian wigwam, and games, and games, and GAMES!”
So, the fairies, Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play, told me how to make all these magic toys from nothing at all but cardboard boxes, and they asked me to tell the children about it, so that they might know how to change dull days into bright and happy ones when they had learned of the magic.
Cardboard boxes are to be found everywhere. They are in your home and in everybody’s home. Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, milliners, druggists, jewelers, stationers, grocers, drygoods firms, shoe stores, book stores, toy stores, all keep them. Everywhere, everywhere there are cardboard boxes—big boxes, little boxes, middling-sized boxes; wide boxes, narrow boxes, deep boxes, shallow boxes; round boxes, oblong boxes, square boxes! Boxes, boxes, BOXES everywhere! All you need to do is to ask for them.
People at home are throwing them away. The butchers, the bakers, the candlestick makers, the milliners, the druggists, the jewelers, the stationers, the grocers, and the dry goods firms, as well as all the others, are constantly sending boxes to your home. The shoe stores, and the book stores, and the toy stores, and ever so many others, are throwing boxes away just because nobody seems to realize what magic there lies in them for the children.
When Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play first told me about boxcraft, I did not find any trouble in securing the kind of box that I needed for the toy-making. I found that the merchants were very glad to give me boxes when I asked for them. They smiled when I asked. They did not know that a toy circus tent could be made from a round hat-box. They did not know that a whole village might be erected out of six shoe-boxes!
Among the boxes given me were three very large ones. One was deep and wide. It came from the milliner’s. It was not a bandbox, but a box used to pack hats away in. In it I kept all the boxes that came to me. The small ones I packed inside the large ones. It was a simple matter, after that, to find what I needed when I wished to make a table, or a chair, or a punch show, or a school-house.
Another box that was given me was wide and flat. Into it I put all pretty papers that came my way—lace-paper, pinwheel paper, sheets of waxed sandwich paper and glacine book covers, crape paper, spools, cotton, pencils. Everything that could lie flat went into this wide, flat box, to be stored till needed. This box packed into the first box easily.
The third box was broad, and square, and deep. Into it I packed the playthings I had made after I had finished playing with them. It fitted into the side of the first box above the wide and flat one. All these could be put out of sight in my play-closet when night came and it was time to pick up.
These boxes I called my treasure boxes. I hope you will find three like them and keep your boxcraft materials as I kept mine, for Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play told me about the plan, and I think it is a splendid one.
If you have some pretty samples of wall-paper, you can easily cover your treasure boxes with them. There _might_ be some wall-paper like that in your play-room. If so, this would be the very thing. Then, the boxes may be placed anywhere you choose in your room.
These treasure boxes are not meant to hold large toys. It is the little toys that you will like best to use in boxcraft play. The toy figures and the animals will pack into very small space. The corrugated cardboard for roofs, the green crape paper for grass, the pretty shells, pebbles, and artificial flowers for garden building, take but small space.
The tools for your boxcraft, scissors, and paste, and paint-box, may go into the large, deep treasure box too.
Here in this book you will find the toys that the fairies have shown me how to make. There are many, many more. You can try the magic craft of the fairies for yourself in your own way. If your boxes are not always exactly like mine, make them answer by adapting the general plan of the toy to the box which you have. Learn to make much out of little. That is the motto of boxcraft play. THAT is what Cinderella’s fairy godmother did when she changed a pumpkin into a golden coach. That is what fairies _always_ do! They find magic in _little things_—so suppose you try it too!
Sing a song of boxes and busy fingers too, Some scissors, and a paint-box, and just a bit of glue!
Sing a song of playtime for happy girls and boys, A-snipping with their scissors, a-making boxcraft toys!
LIST OF MATERIALS WHICH MAY BE USED IN BOXCRAFT
Cardboard boxes. (To make buildings and toys.)
Corrugated cardboard. (To make roofs and fences.)
Plain cardboard. (To use in cutting side walls, roofs, wheels for carriages.)
Glacine paper book-covers. (To use in making window-glass for buildings.)
Colored pinwheel papers and tissue papers. (To use in decorating houses.)
Spools. (To make standards for trees and bushes in landscape building, to make flower-stands, cannon, stools, tables, legs for dolls’ beds, men for playing boxcraft games.)
Round-headed paper-fasteners of brass. (To make door-knobs and door-latches for buildings. To fasten handles to baskets. To fasten wheels to vehicles.)
Pencils. (To use for pillars for buildings. To use for making game-boards.)
TOOLS USED IN BOXCRAFT PLAY
Just a pair of scissors, some paste, and a box of crayons or water-color paints.
THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE OF BOXVILLE
=Material Required for Making a Little Cottage=: one shoe-box with its cover, a twelve-inch square of cardboard, three small boxes, and a bit of glacine paper to make window-glass.
Here is the little Cottage of Boxville. I think _The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe_ might better have chosen to live in a shoe-box like this than to have made her home in an old boot! The cottage certainly seems cozy, and far more comfortable than a shoe would be. I know that her children would have preferred a dwelling like this. I am sure you like it better yourself, so I am going to tell you how you may build one just like it.
Find a shoe-box and take its cover off. Set the box upon its side with the bottom of the box facing you. This is to be the front of the cottage.
Upon the front you will need to draw two windows and a door. Take your ruler and a pencil. Measure a window space two inches from either end of the box. Make each window space two inches wide and two inches high. Half-way between these, draw a door space with its base at the base of the box. Make the door space two inches wide and three inches and a half tall.
Down the center of each window space from top to base of the square, draw a line which divides it into half. This forms the window-blinds, which you will need to cut open. (To make window with blinds, see Diagram One, _B_, page 166.) Cut top line. Cut down the center line and cut across the base of the square. Fold the sections of cardboard outward against the sides of your box, and you will have made a window with blinds.
Half-way between windows is the door space. (To cut door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut across the top line of your square, down one side and across the base. Fold the cardboard outward, and you will have made a door that you can open and close at will.
If you happen to have a round-headed paper-fastener that has two pointed prongs that are meant to press through papers to keep them together, take it and press its prongs through the little door where a door-knob should be. Bend the prongs together to one side and you will have a door-latch. By turning the round knob, you may fasten the door or open it, as you like.
The roof of the cottage is supported upon two pieces of cardboard cut to fit each end of the box. (See Diagram Three, _A_, page 168.) To make these, take your cardboard and cut a piece the width of one end of your box and four inches higher. Make a second piece of cardboard like it to fit the other end of your box. Glue both on the box, one on each end. Then, with scissors, cut each piece off diagonally downward from the top at the rear of the box to the front of the box. This cuts off a corner and makes a sloping rest for each end of the cottage. Upon these the cover of the shoe-box is slipped to make half of a sloping roof. (See Diagram Three, _AA_, page 168, showing box cover placed upon side-wall pieces.)
Slip your box cover over the two points, when both are thoroughly dry. See, it makes the best kind of a roof for your cottage!
If you wish to add a chimney, any long, narrow box that is small enough to form the right proportion to the roof may be used. Measure its base upon the cottage roof near the top. Cut the cardboard of the roof so that the box end may be slipped through it and stand erect, and you have a chimney. If you use a box which has a sliding cover like a drawer, its outside will be like a real little chimney. You may mark off bricks upon it with a pencil, and color it bright red. A wad of cotton will form the smoke for a chimney.
I painted blinds and door of the cottage that you see in the picture. Blinds were green and the door was brown. You may use almost any kind of paint to do this. The colors from your water-color painting-box will answer. You may use crayons too, if you like. Other paint takes somewhat longer to dry. It is not so well adapted to the building.
In front of my cottage, I made a garden with some artificial flowers that had once been on my summer hat in a wreath. You may easily make a garden for your cottage, or you may have tubs of flowers like the one in the picture. It is the lower half of a pill-box filled with forget-me-nots.
The cottage is furnished with furniture cut from small boxes. These may be three inches long or smaller. My furniture is all painted, but you need not paint yours unless you care to do so.
The bed is made from a box and its cover. To make it, first take the lower half of your box and turn it over so that its rims are below instead of on top. At each corner cut a leg for the bed, and remove cardboard from between these cuttings, so that it leaves at each corner of the rim a two-sided leg. (To cut bench form, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.) When you have cut this lower half of the bed, take the cover of your box and turn it so that its rims come upward instead of downward. Remove the rims from each long side, and you will have left the head and footboard of the bed. Glue this piece to the lower half you first cut, and the bed will be finished. Sheets and pillow may be cut from tissue or lace-paper.